Two new Agrovista Amenity Apprentices

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Two new Agrovista Amenity Apprentices: Agrovista Amenity has announced the appointment of two new apprentices – Sophie Allen and William Gray.

Sophie joins the company as a Trainee Business Support Administrator and will be working towards an NVQ Level 3 in Business Administration. As a keen cricketer and a volunteer groundsperson at her local cricket club, Sophie was already aware of Agrovista before applying for the position.

Two new Agrovista Amenity Apprentices

Two new Agrovista Amenity Apprentices

“Whether it is rolling, marking, spiking or renovating, I really enjoy preparing the cricket pitches and maintaining them so that they are ready for our teams to play on,” she said. “This work has provided me with a lot of knowledge about the company because we get all our products from Agrovista Amenity.

“This is a fantastic opportunity and I’m really looking forward to starting a brand-new career which will hopefully be long-lasting.”

When Sophie is not at her cricket club, she likes to keep active and go on long walks with her ‘crazy’ puppy.

William is the newest addition to the sales team and is three weeks into his apprenticeship. He joins the company with a great knowledge in IT and communications, which he gained through education and various work experience. In his spare time William is a keen swimmer and a fan of history, who enjoys visiting ruins and museums.

Commenting on his new role, William said: “I get the impression that Agrovista is very up to date and progressive with the market it operates in and covers a wide range of products where I could gain new and interesting knowledge. I am also thrilled to learn about commercial exporting as I find it very interesting in how goods are transported in and out of the UK.

“I am looking forward to being able to assist my team and increase productivity. My new team is a big factor and have been excellent at making me feel welcome – so a big thank you to them.”

Dan Hughes, Head of Commercial for Agrovista Amenity, revealed his delight at welcoming Sophie and William to the team.

“As an employer, nothing is more rewarding than providing young, talented, and ambitious people an exciting career opportunity.

“With amenity being such a niche sector, both Sophie and William have the opportunity to harness specialist skills and knowledge for a successful career. We are fortunate to have a team and organisational culture that prides itself on helping, knowledge sharing and progressing committed team members and that is vital to our ethos and business success.”

For more information about Agrovista UK, visit www.agrovista.co.uk/amenity

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Kubota tractor wins at top equestrian venue

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Kubota tractor wins at top equestrian venue: Equestrian sport is quite literally riding high in Britain – with Team GB winning medals in dressage, showjumping and eventing at the Tokyo Olympics, the passion for horses has never been greater.

Specialist riding arena surfaces have transformed the possibilities for venues wishing to offer training and competition opportunities all-year round, but require regular, skilled maintenance. A leading venue in Leicestershire has invested in a Kubota L-1382 compact tractor to help them achieve this.

Kubota tractor wins at top equestrian venue

Kubota tractor wins at top equestrian venue

Vale View Equestrian offers extensive facilities for all three disciplines: a state-of-the-art all-weather cross-country arena which replicates the terrain and obstacle challenges of a grass course plus its adjacent practice arenas span 2.5 acres. Then there are 66x26m and 70x30m indoor arenas ideal for show jumping and dressage, plus two other large outdoor arenas and a new lunge pen.

“The surfaces have to be harrowed every day, in preparation for events and during them,” explains Julie Hyslop, who founded Vale View Equestrian with husband Mark and daughter Emma Hyslop-Webb. “We have used a quad bike in the past but it lacked the power needed and became unreliable. The special sand mixture contains wax, which makes it difficult to pull through, but we are renowned by the leading riders for the quality of our surfaces, so we have to be able to harrow and level effectively.”

Local Kubota dealer Farmstar had previously supplied an F Series front mower which is used to cut grass areas around the site, so Mark approached the company to source a tractor.

“We were originally interested in a smaller tractor, but Farmstar suggested the 38hp L-1382 and it was the right choice to give enough power to pull the harrow,” he explains. “Yet it is very manoeuvrable with its hydrostatic transmission and power steering – we can even harrow around the jumps during a break in the showjumping competitions to ensure that we are offering the ideal footing to every competitor.”

The tractor is driven by a several members of staff including Olivia Toone and Fran Segalov who have a varied roles in the business, and two part-time groundsmen who set up the arenas with jumps or dressage markers.

“It’s a big plus that the tractor is so straightforward that anyone can drive it,” comments Mark. “Access for daily checks is also very quick and logical.”

While the L-1382 is kept busy with the harrow much of the time, it has also been deployed to move trailers carrying showjumps and portable cross country fences. Emma says that it will be used for a wider range of tasks in the equestrian centre’s grazing paddocks in the future.

“It will be really useful for topping up water troughs, manure clearance and maintenance of fencing in the future.”

“It’s the perfect equestrian tractor in our opinion,” she says.

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Headland C-Complex® all season long

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Headland C-Complex® all season long: The C-Complex® range from Headland Amenity is helping the team at Gog Magog Golf Club ward off lush, leafy growth in favour of firm and fast surfaces – in keeping with the course’s downland surroundings.

Estate Manager Andrew Howarth uses various analysis of C-Complex® organic mineral fertiliser for feeding and recovery throughout the year, including C-Complex® Sport which was trialled on some of the sites high traffic areas last year with great success.

Headland C-Complex® all season long

Headland C-Complex® all season long

Gog Magog is a 36-hole complex and, together with boasting one of the largest practice facilities in the UK, is listed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to its calcareous grassland. This means that for Andrew and his team of 14, there’s certain dos and don’ts when it comes to chemical usage and maintenance. “While we’re not as restricted on the closer mown areas, we do manage the course in a sustainable way, with a focus on organics” explains Andrew.

“Because of the high usage, we found we were struggling with recovery on some of the high traffic areas, in particular, the greens surrounds. In the hunt for a product that would give use good recovery, without triggering excessive growth, we spoke with our Regional Technical Manager at Headland, Peter Blackaby, who suggested we apply C-Complex® Sport.” C-Complex® Sport 14-2-5+MgO is designed for use on all coarse turf areas and has delivered exceptional results on golf tees and surrounds where lasting strength is needed. The homogenous, regular granule features a high concentration of humic acids and other organic material and so breaks down easily on contact with moisture.

“The humic acid is excellent for root development and gives us the recovery and growth we want, where with other products you’d only get one or the other! We applied C-Complex® Sport just once last year in late spring and had fantastic field longevity with it.” Alongside C-Complex® Sport, Andrew is also using C-Complex® 5-2-10 on the greens, applied once a year as a ‘spring starter’. “The combination of different nitrogen sources respond well at cooler temperatures – doing a good job of getting growth going.”

“After summer renovations we then change to the C-Complex® 4-3-4 analysis which, thanks to the soft granular make-up, breaks down fast to encourage healthy root development and quick recovery to bring the surfaces back into play ASAP.” He adds, “Peter is a fantastic sounding board, and backed up with the Headland soil sampling and a thorough understanding of our objectives has given us a programme that is ticking all the boxes.”

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New Turf Rewards for UK and Ireland

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New Turf Rewards for UK and Ireland: ICL and Syngenta have launched Turf Rewards for 2022 which now features separate schemes for the UK and Ireland.

Turf Rewards provides the opportunity for customers to earn points from purchases that can then be exchanged against a fantastic selection of agronomic or turf related items and learning opportunities.

New Turf Rewards for UK and Ireland

New Turf Rewards for UK and Ireland

New for 2022, Turf Rewards products will have lower thresholds to earn points. Here’s an example:

In 2021, Turf Rewards customers would need to purchase 25 bags of SierraformGT or ProTurf to get 5 points. However, this year customers would only need to purchase 12 bags of either to earn 3 points.

With an extensive range of items already on offer, new rewards for 2022 have also been announced.

New UK Turf Rewards

  • An SGL TurfPod with 1 year’s subscription.
  • Join or renew your British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) membership.

These great new rewards join popular rewards such as Machine Mart vouchers and agronomy tools including the TDR150 moisture meter and the Davis Vantage Pro2 Weather Station.

New Turf Rewards in Ireland

  • Join or renew your Association of Turfgrass Professionals Ireland (ATPI) membership.

This new reward has been added to popular rewards for the Irish market such as Caulfield Industrial vouchers and the TDR350 moisture meter.

If you would like to find out more about Turf Rewards in the UK visit www.turfrewards.com or for Ireland www.Turfrewards.ie.

Please contact ICL on 01473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.co.uk or www.icl-sf.ie if you are in Ireland.

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